Labor goes to court over coalition deal

Labor has billed a court challenge against Malcolm Turnbull over secret documents as a "David and Goliath" battle.

Opposition frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon has lodged a Federal Court appeal after the government refused to release under freedom of information laws a copy of the Liberal-National coalition agreement, which was initially entered into in 2015 after Tony Abbott was ousted as prime minister and re-signed after the 2016 election.

Mr Fitzgibbon has launched an online fundraising campaign to cover the cost of the challenge, which will be heard on August 18.

"This is David and Goliath stuff and we need your help," Mr Fitzgibbon says in an online video.

The NSW Labor MP told AAP on Tuesday said there was nothing more fundamental to Westminster democracy than transparency around deals done to form government.

While coalition agreements in Australia have traditionally been kept secret, Mr Fitzgibbon argues the deal struck between the UK Conservative Party and Democratic Unionist Party to form government in July was publicly released.

The Gillard government released the full details of its deal with independents and the Greens to form minority government in 2010.

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Mr Fitzgibbon said the issue had become even more intriguing given the debate over whether support for a same-sex marriage plebiscite was written into the coalition agreement.

Former Nationals leader Warren Truss told reporters in 2015 he and Mr Turnbull had agreed "to maintain the existing policy to refer the same-sex marriage issue to a plebiscite of the people in our next term".

The prime minister's office declined to comment because the matter was before the courts.

A Senate estimates committee heard last year Mr Turnbull consulted his department before striking the agreement, and a senior officer in the prime minister's department was given a copy of the correspondence.

Attorney-General George Brandis told an estimates hearing in October last year the coalition agreement was a "private document".

"It is not a public document - it is an exchange between two individuals in their capacity as leaders of two political parties, not as public office holders," he said.

Mr Fitzgibbon said if it was a private document, the government should not be using taxpayers' money to defend the court case.

Mr Truss told reporters in 2015 the agreement included maintaining existing policies in relation to climate change, carbon taxes and emissions reduction targets; funding for mobile phone and TV blackspots; an "effects" test for business; road funding and inland rail; a better deal for rural students; the transfer of water policy to the agriculture department, and extra support for stay-at-home parents with young children.